On the one had, large numbers of school leavers will be applying for admission to universities, while on the other, the recruitment base of some institutions of higher education will be getting narrower. The universities of technology and the faculties of science fall into this group.
Traditionally, large numbers of highly gifted pupils have applied for places to read science and technology. The increasing demand for graduate engineers, however, means that the intake has been enlarged, while at the same time there are insufficient pupils leaving school with a high enough level of proficiency in mathematics and science.
In order to solve the problem, those involved in university selection have had to consider ways of ensuring a gifted intake in the 1990s with sufficient and varied talents. First, the universities of technology are trying to influence the education system to increase the amount of science teaching in the final school years. Secondly, correct and positive information should be publicised on the possibilities technology has of solving the problems of people and the environment in order to encourage interest in the sciences. Thirdly, new recruitment channels should be created in order to exploit untapped reserves of talent for the benefit of technological studies. With this in mind, the interest of women in science should be particularly encouraged. 相似文献
Aims.
The aims of the study were to investigate whether the style of pupils with behaviour problems was different from that of children with no reported problems, and also to consider how pupils of different style manifested their problem behaviours.
Sample.
The sample comprised 83 male pupils aged 10‐18 years from two residential special schools.
Method.
The sample were given the Cognitive Styles Analysis to assess their positions on the Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery style dimensions. The pupil records of the special school pupils who were at the extreme of the style dimensions were also examined.
Results.
When their style characteristics were contrasted with a Comparison Sample of 413 12‐16‐year‐old males attending 10 secondary schools, the special school pupils had a significantly higher proportion of both Wholists and Verbalisers, than the Comparison Group. Further, the inspection of the records indicated that the types of social behaviour and behaviour problems exhibited varied with style, and particularly on the Wholist‐Analytic dimension.
Conclusion.
The results were considered to have implications for the origins and treatment of problem behaviour. 相似文献
By mid-1986, there were 12 special schools catering for some 2,000 pupils; intellectually disabled, educationally subnormal, hearing impaired, visually handicapped, cerebral palsied and multiple handicapped. All these schools are run by Voluntary Associations with Government support in terms of funds, buildings and some teachers.
However, an analysis of prevalence figures indicates a possible shortfall in the numbers of disabled children actually attending special schools, and an over-concentration of these schools in one part of Singapore which might deter some parents from sending their children to the appropriate special school.
One major improvement in the quality of Special Education has been the systematic training (since 1984) of the unqualified Association teachers at the Institute of Education on the Certificate in Special Education Programme.
However, there would still seem to be a need for more therapists and para-professionals to support the services offered in the special schools. 相似文献
This paper recounts some of the principal findings of research in which the teaching staff of a large 9‐13 middle school were interviewed individually regarding their perceptions of their South Asian pupils. The school has an almost wholly South Asian intake and is situated near the centre of a large northern city.
The teachers’ markedly deficit view of their charges is detailed and this is followed by an explanation of their constructions in microsociological terms. A model is presented which clarifies the processes by which close intercultural interaction seem to accomplish worlds as divergent.
The author teaches children with special educational needs at the school in which the study was undertaken. 相似文献
In‐service education is very important. Many courses are provided, although Secondary teachers do not have statutory rights to INSET release.
Recent examination of training for this sector has revealed a number of weaknesses, among them a tendency to compartmentalisation and the fact that university trainers themselves lack pedagogic background. The de Peretti Report is referred to.
The article concludes with a close examination of aspects of the theory‐practice issue, based on the writer's extensive experience. 相似文献
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of inquiry-based activities on pre-service teachers’ knowledge about GCC and their perceptions of teaching this subject.
Sample The participants were 102 pre-service middle school mathematics and science teachers who were enrolled in an environmental education course.
Design and methods A one group pre-test–post-test design was employed to identify changes after pre-service teachers engaged in a learning unit on GCC. The inquiry-based GCC unit was implemented during the spring semester at a public university in northeastern Turkey. The unit was implemented over seven sessions. Data were collected through two questionnaires: the ‘GCC content questionnaire’ and the ‘perceptions of teaching GCC questionnaire’. Each questionnaire was administered both before and after implementation of the unit. Content questionnaire responses were analyzed using a paired-samples t-test. Responses to the perceptions of teaching questionnaire were analyzed using inductive open coding.
Results Results indicated that after the implementation the pre-service teachers significantly improved their understanding of GCC across all items in the content questionnaire, saw several benefits of and challenges about teaching GCC, and perceived themselves as better prepared to teach about GCC in their future classrooms.
Conclusions Teacher education programs should integrate inquiry-based GCC instruction to increase pre-service teachers’ knowledge as well as their preparedness to teach about this important planetary issue. 相似文献
Considerable effort has gone into the creation of an institutional strategy. While each of the ‘new’ colleges was free to choose its own approach, that adopted at the SOL Utrecht was radical. On the basis of the identification of the needs of future teachers, teams of specialists from different areas—for example, pedagogues as well as subject specialists —were brought together to plan, as a team, for the courses offered. This approach makes heavy demands on staff attitudes, which must be allowed for.
The school practice experience is important, and carefully planned for. Also, much use is made of audio‐visual media, including videotaping of lectures, once course content has been fixed.
The institution is committed to an integrated approach to the training of teachers. 相似文献
Purpose: This article aims to delineate the influence of textbooks on teachers’ selection and use of representations when teaching chemical bonding models and to show how this might cause students’ difficulties understanding.
Sample: Ten chemistry teachers from seven upper secondary schools located in Central Sweden volunteered to participate in this study.
Design and methods: Data from multiple sources were collected and analysed, including interviews with the 10 upper secondary school teachers, the teachers’ lesson plans, and the contents of the textbooks used by the teachers.
Results: The results revealed strong coherence between how chemical bonding models are presented in textbooks and by teachers, and thus depict that textbooks influence teachers’ selection and use of representations for their lessons. As discussed in the literature review, several of the selected representations were associated with alternative conceptions of, and difficulties understanding, chemical bonding among students.
Conclusions: The study highlights the need for filling the gap between research and teaching practices, focusing particularly on how representations of chemical bonding can lead to students’ difficulties understanding. The gap may be filled by developing teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge regarding chemical bonding and scientific models in general. 相似文献
Rapid expansion in the provision of schooling has kept up the demand for teachers, and there is still a shortage situation to which a full response cannot be made at university level, so that two‐year courses must persist for some time. Different Ministries will continue to be responsible.
The author provides a detailed analysis of the content of initial training; correct pedagogic induction is regarded as highly important, though a satisfactory allocation of time has yet to be reached. This problem is recognised by both Ministries responsible for teacher training, and important experimental work is under way.
In‐service training is highly important, both school‐based and externally provided; the various agencies are described. The training is available up to and including Doctoral level.
Many studies have been carried out of teachers and teacher‐training, and these help with the identification of current problems. These problems are frankly identified by the author, who offers a view of the directions to be followed.
Mieczyslaw Pecherski is Professor of Education at the University of Warsaw and Secretary of the Pedagogic Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. 相似文献
Purpose: Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate Swedish technology teachers’ attitudes toward their subject, and how these attitudes may be related to background variables.
Sample: Technology teachers in Swedish compulsory schools (n = 1153) responded to a questionnaire about teachers’ attitudes, experiences, and background.
Methods: Exploratory factor analysis was used to inwvestigate attitude dimensions of the questionnaire. Groupings of teachers based on attitudes were identified through cluster analysis, and multinomial logistic regression was performed to investigate the role of teachers’ background variables as predictors for cluster belonging.
Results: Four attitudinal dimensions were identified in the questionnaire, corresponding to distinct components of attitudes. Three teacher clusters were identified among the respondents characterized by positive, negative, and mixed attitudes toward the subject of technology and its teaching, respectively. The most influential predictors of cluster membership were to be qualified for teaching technology, having participated in in-service-training, teaching at a school with a proper overall teaching plan for the subject of technology and teaching at a school with a defined number of teaching hours for the subject.
Conclusions: The results suggest that efforts to increase technology teachers’ qualifications and establishing a fixed number of teaching hours and an overall teaching plan for the subject of technology may yield more positive attitudes among teachers toward technology teaching. In turn, this could improve the status of the subject as well as students’ learning. 相似文献
Purpose The paper aims to illustrate primary pre-service teachers’ understanding of argumentation based on a study using quantitative methodology. In particular, it aims to illustrate how these teachers view quality of arguments and teaching strategies related to argumentation in the context of a socio-scientific issue on energy.
Sample 332 pre-service teachers enrolled in a university teacher education programme in Spain were investigated. Many studies on argumentation have been conducted with small sample sizes of teachers. Hence, given the sample size, the study provides findings that are likely to be generalisable.
Design and methods A questionnaire was administered to the participants. The design of the questionnaire was guided by some existing analytical tools which were adapted for primary education purposes in the context of socio-scientific issues. This adaptation is novel in that the questionnaire items can potentially be used as diagnostic questions to assess primary teachers’ understanding of argumentation.
Results The results suggest that pre-service teachers had difficulty in understanding arguments and different pedagogical strategies to promote argumentation in classroom. For example, they did not understand the role and the meaning of warrants in scientific arguments and their understanding of the use of different kind of strategies is limited to debates, open discussions and experiments. The age range of the participants and the length of teaching experience had no impact on the quality of their understanding of argumentation.
Conclusions Pre-service science teacher education will benefit from incorporation of more robust and lengthy sessions on argumentation. For example, sessions could focus on quality as well as structure of arguments in science and more diverse pedagogical strategies to support argumentation in science lessons, such as the use of writing frames and presentations. 相似文献
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess pre-service science teachers' TPACK over a semester-long Science Methods.
Sample: Twenty-seven pre-service science teachers took the course toward the end of their four-year teacher education program.
Design and method: The study employed the case study methodology. Lesson plans and microteaching observations were used as data collection tools. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-based lesson plan assessment instrument (TPACK-LpAI) and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Observation Protocol (TPACK-OP) were used to analyze data obtained from observations and lesson plans.
Results: The results showed that the TPACK-focused Science Methods course had an impact on pre-service teachers’ TPACK to varying degrees. Most importantly, the course helped teachers gain knowledge of effective usage of educational technology tools.
Conclusion: Teacher education programs should provide opportunities to pre-service teachers to develop their TPACK so that they can effectively integrate technology into their teaching. 相似文献
Purpose/Hypothesis: This study offers teaching strategies and their corresponding instructional sequences based on Lakatosian Methodology, and examines the effects of a Lakatosian Conflict Map using pre-service elementary teachers’ conceptual understandings of the causes of seasons.
Design/Method: The Lakatosian Conflict Map was applied to concepts of seasonal change held by pre-service elementary teachers.
Results: Most pre-service elementary teachers consistently protect their hard-core beliefs about seasonal change by offering auxiliary hypotheses related to earth’s elliptical orbit and the tilt of its rotational axis in response to activities designed to promote conceptual change around knowledge related to the cause of the seasons. Specifically, the critical event rather than the discrepant event in the Lakatosian Conflict Map was conducted in a Lakatosian conflict group and these students were allowed to explicitly express their representations about the phenomena derived from these events. The result of this study is that instruction using the new Lakatosian Conflict Map produced more favorable outcomes in terms of conceptual change than traditional instruction.
Conclusions: This research concludes that the Lakatosian Conflict Map can help science teachers and students resolve the conflicts between students’ existing ideas and target scientific concepts. 相似文献
All plans for this integrated training program are designed to provide training normally encompassed by the traditional two‐stage programm.
The integrated training program includes:
- studies in the areas of education and social science;
- studies in two major subjects which are later to be taught at school;
- practical studies and activities.
The new model leads to the following degrees:
- nine semesters of study for a Certificate of Qualification for primary and lower‐level secondary school;
- eleven semesters for a Certificate of Qualification for higher‐level secon dary school and the education of exceptional children.
Theoretic training in major subject areas and related didactic training as well as education and social studies take place chiefly in the form of projects. A basic assumption is that interdisciplinary projects which are practice‐ and problemoriented permit a highly desirable integration of theory and practice on the whole.
In the project, contact teachers are an essential link between field practice at school and academic training at the university. Contact teachers are under contact to the university for an extended period of time (generally three years). In place of remunation, their teaching loads are reduced by ten hours per week.
In 1978/79 the project will be put to the test as the first generation of students prepares for State Board Examinations. 相似文献